‘Save this country’: Brazil grapples with trust on heels of Lula victory
Tears streaming down her cheeks, Viviane Ramos joined hands with other protesters and began feverishly murmuring prayers outside a military building in Rio de Janeiro’s center this week.
“Lord, pray for us, pray for our nation,” Ms. Ramos, an evangelical Christian, called towards the skies as rain pelted her face and drenched the Brazilian flag draped over her shoulders. “Save this country.”
Along with thousands of others clad in yellow, she was there to protest the result of Sunday’s election, which leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known universally as Lula, won by a razor-thin margin. Underscoring a lack of trust in established politics and democratic institutions that has grown over the past four years among a large segment of the population, protestors are demanding that the military step in to keep far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in power.
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